How relevant is your major?
Hello everybody. I am a sophomore studying mechanical engineering at a non-target with a decent amount of alumni on the street. The thing that I'm concerned about is how people will view me when they see that I am an engineer trying to work in finance. I do not actually want to be an engineer, but I chose it last year since it is something that is interesting, but a little after that I realized I could not see myself being an engineer and being great at it. Working in finance is something I can see myself doing for my entire life and being great at it.
So, some of you are probably wondering why I did not switch majors yet. Truthfully, I wanted to go to a better school than the one I go to right now and study finance, but due to family and financial reasons that was not possible and I had to chose a state school (albeit one of the best state schools in the country). I've thought about switching majors to finance, but I keep getting mixed opinions the subject. Some say to do it since it's what I like learning about while others say that banks and HF's are looking for more "quant" related majors nowadays. The thing is I'm not interested in being a quant, programmer, etc. I'm interested in something like global macro or value funds, basically anything but a quant fund. Plus people keep telling me that an engineering degree is very good to have and it opens more doors than others.
What do you guys think about this? Am I shooting myself in the foot by pursuing a hard major? By the time I graduate (2 years) my GPA will most likely be around 3.5. I am currently trying to land an internship at a HF for this summer and I have a few EC's that I can add to my resume. I've searched around on here and this subject isn't too common so I couldn't find anything valuable. I just kind of felt lost today when a family member asked me why I am still studying engineering but want to work in finance.
What school are you attending? You might be at a target if it really is one of the best public schools in the nation.
Well, it is a top 20 school according to a few different rankings. Although I'm not sure if that would classify as being "one of the best". But Greenes' guide lists it as a public ivy, although I'm not sure how credible that is. It is definitely a non-target though since I do not see a lot of OCR here, except a couple of banks (1 or 2 BB's).
Umich for example is a target, I ask because if you are at a school like that then I'd transfer to their business school. Based on what you've written your GPA is currently above a 3.5 in an engineering curriculum. Apply to as many target schools as you can, retake your SAT if you need to and see where you get in.
My thought is, it would really suck to graduate in a field you'll hate working in. On the other hand, if you only like wall street finance it would really suck to drop an engineering curriculum only to find out your school will only lead you into a lackluster career in business.
Top state school for engineering? Sounds like Georgia Tech.
Engineering is a great pursuit, it will show that you can think "quantitatively", which is something banks like to see. Don't mistake "quantitative" for someone who's a "quant", the dichotomy is not totally present either.
Don't feel lost. It's natural to like to pursue different things, and even better to be more worldly. Hell, I'm in finance but I enjoy biostatistics, nuclear engineering, immunology, etc... Don't think you pigeon hole yourself just because you "majored" in something specific.
That's pretty much my reasoning for sticking with the degree. I think the skills engineers have are very valuable and can be applied to many other fields. The only drawback is that I feel like recruiters will question my passion for finance. But I am trying to make up for that in other areas (internships, EC's, spending free time reading about the markets, etc).
Don't do it. Don't change. I did that, and regret it deeply. A 3.5 in engineering is pretty decent, and you'll be a lot more favorably looked at than someone who got a 3.5 in Finance. The "finance" part of finance and economics is easy...it's the math that's hard. Also, as others have said, learning to think quantitatively is hugely important and greatly beneficial. Finally, you're not likely to learn much with a finance degree that you couldn't learn with a few hours a week of reading on your own. Engineering will open more doors for you as you go forward, people will naturally assume that you've gone through a much more rigorous academic process and have learned much more in terms of critical thinking. If you can hone your personal skills and read as much as you can about the style of investing that you're interested in, you'll be in great shape with a 3.5 in engineering. They don't teach you anything about global macro in undergrad finance ;)
Agree with EvanM. Pretty much no one gives a shit about passion for finance. Can you automate the processing of this weekly data dump? Can you gather this data and run some statistical analysis on it? Can you balance assets + liabilities? Can you understand and solve problems on your own? Can you deliver high quality work? Hopefully you learned a few things and can answer yes to those or convince people that you can; a 3.5 in engineering is better than a 3.6 in finance methinks. I cannot infer the same about programming or solving problems skills from a finance major. If you have a few electives open, take a few stats/econ/finance classes. I studied engineering and econ in college and got a job at an HF right after. I recall the only consideration the interview had was "can I program?" and "can I do statistics?" It is so much easier for a supervisor to point you in the right direction for understanding econ concepts than to point you in the right direction for programming concepts...
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